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Guthrie stymies Yankees, leads Orioles to fifth straight

Jul 28, 2007 - 5:06 AM BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- Rookie Jeremy Guthrie threw six solid innings and Ramon Hernandez drove in a pair of runs as the Baltimore Orioles notched a 4-2 victory over the New York Yankees on Friday.

Jay Gibbons had two hits and an RBI for Baltimore, which has won five of the seven meetings between the clubs this season.

The Yankees, who have won six of 10, won the completion of a suspended game from June 28 prior to this one, 8-7, and trail the Boston Red Sox (63-40) by eight games in the American League East.

"That was a little more exciting than we wanted it to be, but we won the game," Torre said. "We won one game and lost a game. I'm certainly not satisfied."

Meanwhile, Guthrie (7-3) outpitched Andy Pettitte by working in-and-out of trouble in leading the Orioles to their fifth straight win.

"It was exciting, a lot of fans from both sides, a great atmosphere," Guthrie said. "It was nice to go out there and throw a good ball game."

It was the second straight impressive outing against the Yankees for Guthrie, who limited them to two runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings in a 3-2 win on June 26.

"He pitched well against us," Derek Jeter said. "He had a good game against us last time and he got the best of us."

The 28-year-old righthander won his third straight game by yielding just two runs and six hits and handed Pettitte his first loss against Baltimore in nine starts.

With the Orioles leading, 3-1, in the fifth, Guthrie got into trouble when he allowed a leadoff single to Andy Phillips and a one-out single to Johnny Damon.

Damon advanced to second on a throwing error by right fielder Jay Payton, but Guthrie got out of it by striking out Jeter and inducing a ground ball from Bobby Abreu to end the threat.

The Orioles got to Pettitte (6-7) in the third. They loaded the bases before taking a 3-1 lead when Hernandez hit a two-run single off Pettitte that scored Corey Patterson and Kevin Millar.

"I was trying to get a good pitch to hit," Hernandez said. "Two out hits are big. They were big big runs."

Millar then added an insurance run as he blasted a solo shot off reliever Scott Proctor in the eighth.

The Yankees pulled within one at 3-2 in the sixth as Robinson Cano laced an RBI single to right. However, Guthrie avoided further damage by getting Andy Phillips to hit into an inning-ending double play.

"I was really happy to pitch out of that inning without giving up any runs," Guthrie said.

That frame spelled the end of the night for Guthrie, as three relievers threw two scoreless innings before Chad Bradford worked the ninth for his first save in three chances.

Meanwhile, Pettitte lost for the first time in three starts, allowing three runs and eight hits in seven innings.